E-Pao.net:
Imphal: Tuesday, 14 October 2014.
The sources
of funds received by the political parties have always been kept enshrouded
from the public view.
The political
parties claim “donation” as the sole source of funds they obtain for various
purposes right from day-to-day affairs to major election campaigns.
Earlier, the
Government had decided to probe foreign funding for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),
which made its debut in the assembly election of Delhi under the leadership of
activist-turned- politician Arvind Kejriwal.
The AAP had
reportedly received huge funds from aboard for its first election fight against
major political parties Congress and BJP.
There have
been complaints against AAP for violating the provisions of the Foreign
Contribution Regulatory Act (FCRA) that regulates the acceptance and
utilization of foreign contribution, to prohibit it from being used in ways
that are detrimental to the national interest.
There is also
an allegation that the Congress Party has received a whopping Rs. 2000 crores
from unknown sources. The BJP too is under the scanner of election reformists
for its many unknown funding sources.
It is during
elections that all political parties pour out all their money to secure votes
from the people. The sources of funds for the political parties need to be
studied thoroughly in order to have a proper electoral system.
An analysis
done by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Income Tax returns and
statements filed by Congress, BJP, CPI-M, CPI, NCP and BSP with the Election
Commission shows that between 2004 and 2012, these political parties received
funding worth Rs. 3,675 crores through unknown sources.
The analysis
shows that sources for over 75% of the funding received by political parties
cannot be traced.
This becomes
very relevant in the light of recent events when the political parties were
brought under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act by a ruling of
Central Information Commission (CIC).
Unfortunately,
full transparency is not possible under the current laws, and it is only the
RTI that can keep citizens informed.
Political
parties are required to submit a statement of election expenditure to the EC
containing details like total amount received by them as funds in the form of
cash, cheques and demand drafts (DDs) among other things.
Political
parties submit these statements providing information of funds collected from
the date of announcement of elections till the date of completion of elections,
which could be between three weeks and three months based on the notification
issued by the EC.
ADR said,
“Full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under
the RTI Act. Some countries where this is done include Bhutan, Nepal, Germany,
France, Italy, Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Japan. In none of these countries
is it possible for 75% of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present it
is so in India.”
In order to
strengthen political parties, elections and democracy in India, it is
imperative that all political parties should provide information under the RTI.
.JPG)
.JPG)
